Medicine and Disease in the Pre-Modern I

Medicine & Disease Islami

Throughout the classical and post-classical periods, medical actors from different social and intellectual backgrounds aimed to make sense of the human body and disease, and worked to provide treatments and preserve health. In this class we will consider who these actors were, examining the categories of learned physicians versus practitioners and studying the role women played in health care. We will study practices of medical education and evaluate regulatory systems that determined access to the medical profession. We will also consider how physicians believed they could obtain knowledge about medical phenomena, and how they theorized human pathology, physiology, and epidemics. We will ask to what extent the theoretical, written treatises that survive today are representative of everyday medical practice in pre-modern West Asia. We inspect additional archeological evidence such as talismans and magic bowls in order to study popular and religious medical approaches. We will do this while tracing the development of the Greco-Arabic medical tradition alongside evolving Islamic theological views and Prophetic medicine, covering a period of roughly five centuries from the early ʿAbbasid period to the Black Death in the 14th century.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• W 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Elaine Van Dalen
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 4 points

Mentalizing: How we read people

Success in a social world requires understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings, a process typically referred to as
mentalizing
. Yet, other people’s mental states are not directly observable: you cannot see a thought or touch a feeling. Nonetheless, humans are quite proficient in inferring these invisible states of mind. How do we accomplish these mentalizing feats? In this course, we will answer this question from multiple angles, relying heavily on neuroscience and psychology research. The seminar will discuss recent and classic studies that reveal how humans effectively interpret the people around them, as well as when and why they make mistakes.

• Department: Psychology
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Meghan Meyer
  Info
• 4 points

STATISTICAL MACHINE LEARNING

Prerequisites: STAT GU4206. The course will provide an introduction to Machine Learning and its core models and algorithms. The aim of the course is to provide students of statistics with detailed knowledge of how Machine Learning methods work and how statistical models can be brought to bear in computer systems - not only to analyze large data sets, but to let computers perform tasks that traditional methods of computer science are unable to address. Examples range from speech recognition and text analysis through bioinformatics and medical diagnosis. This course provides a first introduction to the statistical methods and mathematical concepts which make such technologies possible.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Genevera Allen
  Info
• 3 points

Evolution of Language (seminar)

EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE

This seminar will consider the evolution of language at the levels of the word and grammar, in each instance, phylogenetically and ontogenetically. Since humans are the only species that use language, attention will be paid to how language differs from animal communication.

• Department: Psychology
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Herbert S Terrace
  CULPA: 29 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

CLIMATE PREDICTION CHALLENGES WITH MACHI

CLIMAT PRED W MACHINE LEA

This course is a project-based learning (PBL) course where teams of climate science and data science students collaborate to create machine learning predictive models for challenges inspired by ongoing climate data science research. Students from different background will apply their prior knowledge, work together and teach each other in high-paced collaborative projects. Through a sequence of mini-projects, i.e., “challenges”, this course provides students a deeper understanding of using machine learning for climate science and support predictive capabilities. It provides training on a broad set of practical skills for climate data science research (e.g., handling geoscience data formats, data curation, cleaning and transformation, building ML workflow, and collaboration using cloud computing resources, Git and/or GitHub). It will also offer discussions on the opportunities and challenges of using climate science and projections in decision processes.

Minimal formal instruction on statistics, data science, machine learning, or climate science will be given. Project cycles run every 4 weeks, where we will have mini-group data projects. Groups will be formed randomly with students from both climate science and data science background. Project products will be peer-reviewed, in addition to evaluation by the instructional team.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• R 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Galen A McKinley
  CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 32 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED DATA SCIENCE AND ARTIFICIAL INT

Project-based topics course in data science and artificial intelligence. Students build a portfolio by implementing and applying modern data science methods.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• M 6:10 p.m.-8:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Alex Pijyan
  Info
• Instructor: Haiyuan Wang
  Info
• 3 points

LANGUAGE AND MIND

Prerequisites: PSYC UN1001 and Preferably, an additional course in psychology, focusing on cognition, development, or research methods. Instructor permission required. This seminar explores the relationship between language and thought by investigating how language is mentally represented and processed; how various aspects of language interact with each other; and how language interacts with other aspects of cognition including perception, concepts, world knowledge, and memory. Students will examine how empirical data at the linguistic, psychological, and neuroscientific levels can bear on some of the biggest questions in the philosophy of mind and language and in psychology.

• Department: Psychology
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Nora Isacoff
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

Hydrosystems Engineering

Quantitative introduction to hydrologic and hydraulic systems, with a focus on integrated modeling and analysis of the water cycle and associated mass transport for water resources and environmental engineering. Coverage of unit hydrologic processes such as precipitation, evaporation, infiltration, runoff generation, open channel and pipe flow, subsurface flow and well hydraulics in the context of example watersheds and specific integrative problems such as risk-based design for flood control, provision of water, and assessment of environmental impact or potential for non-point source pollution. Spatial hydrologic analysis using GIS and watershed models.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• 3 points

CLIMATE CHANGE: RESILIENCE & ADAPTATION

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

For advanced undergraduates only. 
Using a case study approach, this course will offer a focused study of climate change adaptation policy, exploring dimensions of adaptation across sectors and scales. With a thematic focus on pervasive global inequities, students will also consider challenges associated with international development and disaster risk management. An inter-disciplinary framework will enrich the course, and students will learn about perspectives from the natural sciences, law, architecture, anthropology, humanitarian aid, and public policy.

• Department: Earth Institute
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Lisa Dale
  CULPA: 6 Info
• 3 points

INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 The study of industrial behavior based on game-theoretic oligopoly models. Topics include pricing models, strategic aspects of business practice, vertical integration, and technological innovation.

• Department: Economics
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Gautam Gowrisankaran
  h-index: 27 Info
• 3 points

Foundations of Environmental Engineering

Foundations of Env Eng

Engineering aspects of problems involving human interaction with the natural environment. Review of fundamental principles that underlie the discipline of environmental engineering, i.e. constituent transport and transformation processes in environmental media such as water, air, and ecosystems. Engineering applications for addressing environmental problems such as water quality and treatment, air pollution emissions, and hazardous waste remediation. Presented in the context of current issues facing the practicing engineers and government agencies, including legal and regulatory framework, environmental impact assessments, and natural resource management.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Luana Llanes
  Info
• 3 points

COMP SOLID MECHANICS WITH AI

Theoretical, computational, and data-driven/machine learning techniques to derive, test, and validate computer models for solid mechanics (e.g., soil, rubber, and metals). Machine learning and data-driven simulations enabled by deep learning.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• F 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Waiching Sun
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 30 Info
• 3 points

ENVIR DATA ANALYSIS & MODELING

Introduction parametric and non-parametric statistical models applied to climate and environmental data analysis. Time and space data analysis methods will be focused, including clustering, autoregressive models, trend analysis, Bayesian analysis, missing data imputation, geostatistics, principal components analysis. Application to problems of climate variation and change; hydrology; air, water and soil pollution dynamics; disease propagation; ecological change; and resource assessment. The class requires the use of R with hands-on programming applied to a current environmental data analysis problem.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Bolun Xu
  h-index: 17 Info
• 3 points

Embodied AI for Construction and Facilit

EMBODIED AI CONSTR FACIL

Sensor modalities and their applications in construction and facilities management. Deep learning concepts and their application in robot perception. Markov Decision Process (MDP) and its application in planning and control. Formulation of embodied AI perception and control problems as MDP. Application of classic reinforcement learning algorithms to solve MDP problems. Analysis of agents’ performance through objective and subjective metrics. Understanding the critical interactions between users/occupants and embodied AI agents. Hands-on experience with robot simulation and/or collaborative robots in controlled lab environments.

• Department: Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
• R 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Zhengbo Zou
  Info
• 3 points

War Narrative: The Arab World

This course works along a number of axial structures that   aim to let texts voice their informing theoretical, political, and poetic strategies. It draws on war narratives in other parts of the world, especially Vietnam, insofar as these find their way into Arabic writing. A poetics of prose gives these narratives the power of literary production that makes them more readable, appealing, and provocative than ordinary journalistic reporting.

Through close readings  of  a number of  Arabic war novels and  some long narrative poems, this course  proposes to  address war in its varieties  not only as liberation movements in  Algeria and Palestine,  but also  as an engagement with  invasions, as in  Iraqi narratives of war, or  as conflict as was the case between Iran and Iraq, 1980-1988,  as proxy wars in other parts of the region , or ‘civil’ wars generated and perpetuated by big powers. Although writers are no longer the leaders of thought as in the first half of the 20th century, they resume different roles of exposition, documentation, reinstatement of identities, and geographical and topographical orientation. Narrators and protagonists are not spectators but implicated individuals whose voices give vent to dreams, desires, intimations, and expectations. They are not utterly passive, however. Behind bewilderment and turbulence, there is a will to expose atrocity and brutality. Writing is an effort to regain humanity in an inhuman situation.

The course is planned under thematic and theoretical divisions:
one
  that takes  writing as a deliberate exposure  of the censored and repressed;
another
as  a counter shock and awe strategy implemented under this name in the wars on Iraq   whereby brutalities are laid bare; and a
third
 that claims reporting  in order to explore its limits and complicity. On the geographical level, it takes Algeria, Palestine as locations for liberation movements; Iraq as a site of death; Egypt as the space for statist duplicity  and camouflage; and Lebanon as an initial stage for a deliberate exercise in a seemingly civil war.

A number of films will be shown as part of students’ presentations.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Muhsin Al-Musawi
  CULPA: 8 Info
• 4 points

INTRO TO CRYPTOGRAPHY

An introduction to modern cryptography, focusing on the complexity-theoretic foundations of secure computation and communication in adversarial environments; a rigorous approach, based on precise definitions and provably secure protocols. Topics include private and public key encryption schemes, digital signatures, authentication, pseudorandom generators and functions, one-way functions, trapdoor functions, number theory and computational hardness, identification and zero knowledge protocols.

• Department: Computer Science
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: James L Bartusek
  Info
• 3 points

STATISTICAL METHODS IN FINANCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 or the equivalent. A fast-paced introduction to statistical methods used in quantitative finance. Financial applications and statistical methodologies are intertwined in all lectures. Topics include regression analysis and applications to the Capital Asset Pricing Model and multifactor pricing models, principal components and multivariate analysis, smoothing techniques and estimation of yield curves statistical methods for financial time series, value at risk, term structure models and fixed income research, and estimation and modeling of volatilities. Hands-on experience with financial data.

• Department: Statistics
• F 2:10 p.m.-4:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Hammou El Barmi
  CULPA: 8 Info
• 3 points

STAT INF/TIME-SERIES MODELLING

Prerequisites: STAT GU4204 or the equivalent. STAT GU4205 is recommended. Modeling and inference for random processes, from natural sciences to finance and economics. ARMA, ARCH, GARCH and nonlinear models, parameter estimation, prediction and filtering. This is a core course in the MS program in mathematical finance.

• Department: Statistics
• S 10:10 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Franz Rembart
  Info
• 3 points

STOCHASTC PROCSSES-APPLICTNS I

Prerequisites: STAT GU4203. STAT GU4207 is recommended. Basics of continuous-time stochastic processes. Wiener processes. Stochastic integrals. Ito's formula, stochastic calculus. Stochastic exponentials and Girsanov's theorem. Gaussian processes. Stochastic differential equations. Additional topics as time permits.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Jaehyuk Choi
  Info
• 3 points

STOCHASTIC METHODS IN FINANCE

Prerequisites: STAT GU4264. Mathematical theory and probabilistic tools for modeling and analyzing security markets are developed. Pricing options in complete and incomplete markets, equivalent martingale measures, utility maximization, term structure of interest rates. This is a core course in the MS program in mathematical finance.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Graeme Baker
  Info
• 3 points

Digital Advocacy for Human Rights: Socia

Digital Advocacy Human Ri

This course examines how digital technologies are transforming human rights advocacy, with primary emphasis on social media campaigning. Students will master hands-on social media platform practices while exploring how open source intelligence (OSINT) methodologies are used to monitor violations and present evidence online through recent case studies. The course prioritizes developing practical social media advocacy and analytic skills, examining how civil society organizations navigate platform policies, content moderation, and political pressures to drive change. Students will analyze how platform policy shifts and content governance changes constrain advocacy strategies, learning to craft campaigns and frame messages for specific audiences. They will analyze cases involving gender, immigration, and trafficking, among others. The OSINT component provides conceptual understanding through contemporary examples including forensic architecture investigations, satellite imagery documentation of mass atrocities, and open source evidence from conflicts like Ukraine. A key component of the course is a research or advocacy project of your choosing. You will develop framing strategies, map relevant networks, and create social media content that demonstrates mastery of digital advocacy techniques. The emergence of these new tools and organizations has produced new ethical dilemmas and reshaped old ones--concerning such fundamental issues as privacy vs. security, the limits of free speech, the trade-off between ethical and pragmatic messaging and fundraising strategies, topics that will be addressed at length in class discussions.

• Department: Institute for Study of Human Rights
• W 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Ted Perlmutter
  Info
• 3 points

COGNITIVE PROCESSES

Prerequisites: For undergraduates: one course in cognitive psychology or cognitive neuroscience, or the equivalent, and the instructors permission. Metacognition and control processes in human cognition. Basic issues include the cognitive mechanisms that enable people to monitor what they know and predict what they will know, the errors and biases involved in self-monitoring, and the implications of metacognitive ability for peoples self-determined learning, behavior, and their understanding of self.

• Department: Psychology
• T 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Janet Metcalfe
  CULPA: 31 h-index: 70 Info
• 3 points

Orientalism and Empire

Nearly fifty years after the publication of Edward Said’s groundbreaking work Orientalism, the book is as relevant as ever. At the same time, there have been countless attempts to broaden the scope of inquiry to explore constructions of the Middle East and Asia from different cultural, historical, and theoretical perspectives, including feminist and Marxist revisions of Said’s conceptualization as well as important work examining the role of race and religion.

Focusing on the Germanophone context, this seminar traces the interrelationship between Orientalism—the study of the Orient—and the evolution of German scholarship and empire. Without having an imperial presence in the Middle East, Germany quickly developed an authoritative role in the study of many Orientalist fields, prompting several questions. Can Said’s framework be used to describe the experience of non-colonial powers in the Middle East? To what extent was German Orientalism informed by Germany’s colonial experiences—its belated acquisition of overseas colonies and its quasi-colonial relationship with Eastern European states? How does Orientalism reflect Germany’s own nation-building efforts to fabricate a mythic,
ancient past? How did Nazi Orientalism perpetuate and exploit these myths?

With the contemporary resurgence of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the Middle East and West, these questions take on renewed importance. Concluding with a discussion of the “migrant crisis” in Europe, this seminar proposes that a historical study of Orientalism can increase sensitivities to the cultural complexities of today’s global environment. Through an interdisciplinary focus on literature, visual arts, and theory, this seminar critically examines the role of scholarship and academia in exploring how humanities can shape and alter such perceptions. Does the study of Orientalism unwittingly contribute to the problem by perpetuating stereotypes and myths while undermining the agency of colonized or non-Western peoples?

• Department: Germanic Languages
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Annie Pfeifer
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Introduction to Narrative Medicine

Intro to Narrative Medici

Narrative competence is a crucial dimension of health-care delivery, the capacity to attend and respond to stories of illness, and the narrative skills to reflect critically on the scene of care and its contexts.  Narrative Medicine explores and builds the clinical applications of literary knowledge.

The objectives of this foundations course include furthering close reading skills, and exploring theories of self-telling and relationality. At the center of this project is the medical encounter.  In examining the complexities of this exchange, to help clinicians to fulfill their "receiving" duties more effectively, we will turn to narrative theory, autobiographical theory, psychoanalytic theory, trauma scholarship and witnessing literature. Classwork integrates didactic and experiential methodologies to develop a heightened awareness of self and others and build a practical set of narrative competencies.

Readings will include works by Toni Morrison, W.G. Sebald, Lucy Grealy, Kazuo Ishiguro, Alison Bechdel, Arthur Frank, Paul Ricoeur, Jonathan Shay and Jens Brockmeier.

• Department: Comparative Literature and Society, Institute for
• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Mary E Sormanti
  Info
• 3 points

Issues Facing the Water Industry

Principles and practice of water treatment and utility management will be presented.  Project-based class where students will work in teams to solve an issue for a water utility.  Variety of external experts will lecture and serve as a resource for students for the project.  Allows students to better understand the role of the water utility in providing safe drinking water in a sustainable manner. Students will become familiar with the challenges facing water utilities, gain knowledge in the design and operation of water treatment systems, and learn how to develop solutions to water supply and water quality issues which will allow them to pursue productive careers in the consulting, utility, or regulatory fields.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• M 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• 3 points

CORPORATE FINANCE

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 An introduction to the economics principles underlying the financial decisions of firms. The topics covered include bond and stock valuations, capital budgeting, dividend policy, market efficiency, risk valuation, and risk management. For information regarding REGISTRATION for this course, go to: http://econ.columbia.edu/registration-information.

• Department: Economics
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Tri Vi Dang
  CULPA: 9 h-index: 10 Info
• Instructor: Allan M Malz
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

Rationalizing the World: Am. Soc. Scienc

This course will cover the development of modern social science and its relation to American history and culture. The different strands of the course are indicated by its title, where “rationalizing” refers both to attempts to understand society through rational means and to the role of social science in providing a justification or rationale for existing social structures. 

Quantitative thinking and social science have become increasingly prominent in our society. But modern discussions of the political relevance of social science do not always account for the ups and downs of particular ideas. For example, Freudianism was huge in mid-century, both within psychology and in the culture at large, but has faded for both intellectual and economic reasons. The Keynesian revolution dominated economics from the 1930s through the 1960s but then was contested by later paradigms in response to the stagflation of the following decade. Trends in criminal justice policy have followed ideas from anthropology, psychology, and economics, and political theories of international relations have affected and been informed by developments in foreign policy. This course provides students with an opportunity to learn about these and other examples of the development and influence of theories in social science, and to form a larger connection between intellectual, social, and political history. 

It is common for students to learn about just one or maybe two social sciences and not to see the way that different social sciences fit together intellectually and how they compete for influence. There’s a tendency to think of any field of study as being a static set of truths as laid out in textbooks or else a steady march of progress. In contrast, this course presents a series of booms and crashes: unsustainable enthusiasms for new ideas followed by disillusionment and controversies that are often never fully resolved. Through readings, class discussion and activities, and final projects, students should learn to see social science as a process that proceeds both internally and with reference to society. 

By the end of the course, students should gain a broad understanding of the development of modern social science and its connection to American politics and society. They will read different sides of academic disputes involving figures from Margaret Mead to Milton Friedman and will gain a historically informed sense of how social science has been influenced by and has influence

• Department: Political Science
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Andrew Gelman
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia h-index: 112 Info
• 4 points

Rationaling the World: Discussion

Rationalizing the World D

Discussion section for POLS GU4280, Rationalizing the World: American Social Science

• Department: Political Science
• 0 points

ADVANCED DATA ANALYSIS

Prerequisites: STAT GU4205 and at least one statistics course numbered between GU4221 and GU4261. This is a course on getting the most out of data. The emphasis will be on hands-on experience, involving case studies with real data and using common statistical packages. The course covers, at a very high level, exploratory data analysis, model formulation, goodness of fit testing, and other standard and non-standard statistical procedures, including linear regression, analysis of variance, nonlinear regression, generalized linear models, survival analysis, time series analysis, and modern regression methods. Students will be expected to propose a data set of their choice for use as case study material.

• Department: Statistics
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Gabriel Young
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 3 points

TOPICS IN MODERN STATISTICS

DRUG DEV IN BIG PHARMA

Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.

• Department: Statistics
• TR 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Parijat Dube
  Info
• 3 points

TOPICS IN MODERN STATISTICS

ML FOR COMPUTER VISION

Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.

• Department: Statistics
• M 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Xiaofu He
  h-index: 21 Info
• 3 points

TOPICS IN MODERN STATISTICS

GENERATIVE AI USING LLMs

Topics in Modern Statistics will provide MA Statistics students with an opportunity to study a specialized area of statistics in more depth and to meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing field.

• Department: Statistics
• F 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Chen Wang
  Info
• 3 points

COMPUT MATH:INTRO-NUMERCL METH

Programming experience in Python extremely useful. Introduction to fundamental algorithms and analysis of numerical methods commonly used by scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Designed to give a fundamental understanding of the building blocks of scientific computing that will be used in more advanced courses in scientific computing and numerical methods for PDEs (e.g. APMA E4301, E4302). Topics include numerical solutions of algebraic systems, linear least-squares, eigenvalue problems, solution of non-linear systems, optimization, interpolation, numerical integration and differentiation, initial value problems and boundary value problems for systems of ODEs. All programming exercises will be in Python.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Qihao Ye
  Info
• 3 points

APPLIED ELECTRODYNAMICS

Overview of properties and interactions of static electric and magnetic fields. Study of phenomena of time dependent electric and magnetic fields including induction, waves, and radiation as well as special relativity. Applications are emphasized.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Ben Zhu
  Info
• 3 points

The Just City: Global Debates in Urban P

THE JUST CITY

Urbanization is inherently unequal, inscribing social, economic, environmental, and political unevenness into the spatial fabric of the city. But the distribution of such inequality is not inevitable. Urbanization is a product of the collective decisions we make (or choose not to make) in response to the shared challenges we face in our cities. And, thus, the patterns of urbanization can be changed. This is the task of urban planning and the starting point for this advanced seminar, which asks how we can reshape our cities to be more just—to alleviate inequality rather than compound it. In embarking on this effort, we face numerous “wicked” problems without clear-cut solutions. The approaches one takes in addressing urban inequality are therefore fundamentally normative—they are shaped by one’s place in the world and one’s view of it. The central challenge in addressing inequality is thus establishing a basis for collective action amongst diverse actors with differing—and sometimes conflicting—values and views. In other words, planning the just city a matter of both empathy and debate. In this course, we will endeavor to develop informed positions that can help us engage with others as a basis for taking collective action.

The course is organized into four 3-week modules, each of which addresses a dimension of the just city: equity, democracy, diversity, and sustainability. In the first week of each module, we will discuss how the issue has been understood in history and theory (with an emphasis on tradeoffs between different priorities and values); in the second week, we will apply this discussion to a global case study prepared and presented by a team of students; and in the third week, we will hold an in-class debate to determine what should be done. Specific case studies vary each year.

• Department: Architecture @Barnard
• R 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Nick R Smith
  h-index: None Info
• 4 points

Corporate Finance and Valuation

Corporate Finance & Valua

This course introduces the fundamental principles of corporate finance and their application to real-world business decisions. Students will examine how companies determine value, measure risk, and make financing choices, while developing the tools to analyze corporate investments and capital structures.

Intellectual Goals and Rationale
The course addresses core questions that drive business decision-making:


How do we determine what a company or investment opportunity is worth?

How do we value financial securities in an uncertain world?

What is risk? How do we measure it, and how does it affect the cost of capital?

What is the appropriate balance between debt and equity?


Course Content and Learning Approach
Through a combination of theoretical frameworks, case discussions, and Excel-based financial modeling, students will build the ability to analyze complex financial scenarios. Lectures provide the foundations of valuation and financing, while case work applies these tools to real business challenges.

Why This Course Matters
Valuation, investment evaluation, and financing decisions are central to careers in finance, consulting, entrepreneurship, and management. The skills gained—financial modeling, risk assessment, and valuation analysis—are directly relevant to roles in investment banking, private equity, corporate development, consulting, and executive leadership.

Who Should Take This Course
This introductory finance course is open to students from all academic backgrounds who seek to strengthen their financial literacy and analytical capabilities. It is particularly valuable for:


Students considering careers in finance, consulting, or general management

Entrepreneurs who need to understand funding and valuation

Students in other fields interested in how businesses create and measure value

Those planning to pursue graduate business education


Prerequisites


Economics:
 ECON UN1105 Principles of Economics

Statistics (one of the following):


STAT UN1001 Intro to Statistical Reasoning

STAT UN1101 Introduction to Statistics

STAT UN1201 Calc-Based Introduction to Statistics

PSYC UN1610 Introductory Statistics for Behavioral Science




Cours

• Department: Mendelson Center
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Haran Segram
  Info
• 3 points

NUMERICAL METHODS/PDE'S

Numerical solution of differential equations, in particular partial differential equations arising in various fields of application. Presentation emphasizes finite difference approaches to present theory on stability, accuracy, and convergence with minimal coverage of alternate approaches (left for other courses). Method coverage includes explicit and implicit time-stepping methods, direct and iterative solvers for boundary-value problems.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Qiang Du
  Wikipedia h-index: 67 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO CLASSICAL CHINESE II

Prerequisites: CHNS W3301: Classical Chinese I; completion of three years of modern Chinese at least, or four years of Japanese or Korean. Please see department. Prerequisites: CHNS W3301: Classical Chinese I; completion of three years of modern Chinese at least, or four years of Japanese or Korean.

• Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures
• MWF 11 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
• Instructor: Feng Li
  CULPA: 12 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

CARBON CAPTURE

Major technologies to store carbon dioxide, geological, ocean, and in the carbon chemical pool. Carbon dioxide transport technologies also covered. In addition to basic science and engineering challenges of each technology, full spectrum of economic, environmental, regulatory, and political/policy aspects, and their implication for regional and global carbon management strategies of the future. Combination of lectures, class debates and breakout groups, student presentations, and independent final projects.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• 3 points

ADVANCED THERMODYNAMICS

Advanced classical thermodynamics. Availability, irreversibility, generalized behavior, equations of state for nonideal gases, mixtures and solutions, phase and chemical behavior, combustion. Thermodynamic properties of ideal gases. Applications to automotive and aircraft engines, refrigeration and air conditioning, and biological systems.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• T 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Michael Burke
  h-index: 22 Info
• 3 points

Turbomachinery

Introduction to basics of theory, design, analysis, and selection of turbomachinery. Turbomachines are widely used in myriad engineering applications such as energy conversion, HVAC, and propulsion, in the forms of pumps, compressors, gas turbines, jet engines, wind turbines, etc. Variety of such applications used as examples to illustrate important concepts.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• S noon-2:30 p.m.
• 3 points

SEMINAR IN BIOTECHNOLOGY

Prerequisites: BIOL W4300 or the instructors permission. A weekly seminar and discussion course focusing on the most recent development in biotechnology. Professionals of the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and related industries will be invited to present and lead discussions.

• Department: Biological Sciences
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Lili Yamasaki
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 3 points

CO2 UTILIZATION AND CONVERSION

Introduction to various CO2 utilization and conversion technologies that can reduce the overall  carbon footprint of commodity chemicals and materials. Fundamentals of thermodynamics, fluid  mechanics, reaction kinetics, catalysis and reactor design will be discussed using technological  examples such as enhanced oil recovery, shale fracking, photo and electrochemical conversion of  CO2 to chemical and fuels, and formation of solid carbonates and their various uses. Life cycle  analyses of potential products and utilization schemes will also be discussed, as well as the use of  renewable energy for CO2 conversion.

• Department: Earth and Environmental Engineering
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Robert Farrauto
  h-index: 52 Info
• 3 points

Decolonization and Feminist Critique

DECOLONIZATION & FEMINIST

This advanced seminar examines historical, social, cultural, and theoretical propositions for decolonizing praxis and their complex relations to feminist critique. How do we understand Western European colonialism and coloniality as modes, conditions, and institutions of power, dispossession, subjugation, and subjection continuing into the present? What are the methods, practices, and vision enacted and proposed by the colonized for undoing and radically transforming the determinate logics, instruments, and structures of colonialism as these persist in the present moment? We will consider how gender and sexuality as well as race – as technologies of social organization, codes of valuation, and modes of survival – shape colonialism and the struggles against it. We will inquire into their significance to projects of decolonization. How might decolonization envision and make possible other ways of life?

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• W 11:10 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Neferti Tadiar
  CULPA: 10 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

Intro to Aerodynamics

Principles of flight, incompressible flows, compressible regimes. Inviscid compressible aerodynamics in nozzles (wind tunnels, jet engines), around wings (aircraft, space shuttle) and around blunt bodies (rockets, reentry vehicles). Physics of normal shock waves, oblique shock waves, and explosion waves.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• M 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Peter A Levoci
  Info
• 3 points

Applied Stochastic Analysis

Provides elementary introduction to fundamental ideas in stochastic analysis for applied mathematics. Core material includes: (i) review of probability theory (including limit theorems), and introduction to discrete Markov chains and Monte Carlo methods; (ii) elementary theory of stochastic process, Ito's stochastic calculus and stochastic differential equations; (iii) introductions to probabilistic representation of elliptic partial differential equations (the Fokker-Planck equation theory); (iv) stochastic approximation algorithms; and (v) asymptotic analysis of SDEs.

• Department: Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Liliana Borcea
  Info
• 3 points

DISABILITY AND ARCHITECTURE

This course explores the manifold relationships between architecture and disability. We will discuss how architecture mediates different bodily experiences and relationships and negotiates social norms and forms of assembly that intervene in shaping shifting understandings and performances of impairment, assistance, access, rehabilitation, and oppression that have historically framed disability.  We will explore disability as a culture, an episteme, and a politics, often negotiated by architecture.

 

We will assess the disabling effects of the built environment as well as architectural projects and designs defined to normalize, segregate, or eradicate disability. We will also study environments, artifacts, and infrastructures that have allowed disabled individuals and communities to thrive, often against expectations of integration in normative life frameworks. We will additionally explore how disability contributes to framing architecture differently and opens up space for new aesthetic experiences, different cultures of making, and diverse politics of the built environment. We will discuss how it challenges normalizing understandings of space and form, functionalist paradigms in architecture, and modern and contemporary interpretations of nature, the city, and society.  We will discuss the ideologies enacted by different projects shaping the life of disabled individuals, including their own designs and interventions in the built environment.

 

These explorations are organized thematically, with sessions engaging design and disability scholarship and providing students with a robust introduction to disability studies. In dialogue with this field, students will explore how design and architecture have operated in relation to medical, social, environmental, cultural, and political paradigms of disability. They will discuss the role that built environments play in the agendas of the disability rights and disability justice movements. Sessions engage both historical and theoretical questions.

 

Three assignments will allow students to explore the intersections of the built environment and disability in a diversity of formats. Advanced students will have the opportunity to write a research paper.

• Department: Architecture @Barnard
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Ignacio Gonzalez Galan
  Info
• 4 points

VIROLOGY

The basic thesis of the course is that all viruses adopt a common strategy. The strategy is simple:

1. Viral genomes are contained in metastable particles.

2. Genomes encode gene products that promote an infectious cycle (mechanisms for genomes to enter cells, replicate, and exit in particles).

3. Infection patterns range from benign to lethal; infections can overcome or co-exist with host defenses.

Despite the apparent simplicity, the tactics evolved by particular virus families to survive and prosper are remarkable. This rich set of solutions to common problems in host/parasite interactions provides significant insight and powerful research tools. Virology has enabled a more detailed understanding of the structure and function of molecules, cells and organisms and has provided fundamental understanding of disease and virus evolution.

The course will emphasize the common reactions that must be completed by all viruses for successful reproduction within a host cell and survival and spread within a host population. The molecular basis of alternative reproductive cycles, the interactions of viruses with host organisms, and how these lead to disease are presented with examples drawn from a set of representative animal and human viruses, although selected bacterial viruses will be discussed.

• Department: Biological Sciences
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Vincent R Racaniello
  CULPA: 11 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Radical Film and Media

This course examines a wide range of radical film and media practices from around the globe. Looking at fiction, nonfiction, and experimental works, we will examine key concepts used to define the political purposes of cinema from historical and theoretical perspectives. What do we mean when we talk about “guerrilla,” “militant,” or “third cinema” film and media practices? How have these concepts been mobilized at different historical periods and for which purpose? What is their relationship to the anticolonial struggles and other social movements?

• Department: Film
• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Elizabeth Ramirez Soto
  Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED MODERN ARMENIAN II

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Charry Karamanoukian
  Info
• 3 points

Peptide and Protein Chemistry

The goal of this course is to explore how chemical methods and concepts have impacted our ability to understand and manipulate protein structure and function. We will navigate this subject through a combination of lectures and structured discussions on research articles from the literature. The course is divided into three segments: (1) In the first part, we will review the rudiments of protein structure and function, then delve into various aspects of enzyme chemistry and polypeptide biosynthesis. (2) In the second part of the course, we will cover synthetic methods to produce and chemically modify peptides and proteins. (3) In the final part, we will discuss chemical approaches to control protein function and monitor protein activity, focusing on methods that use small molecules and mass spectrometry proteomics.

• Department: Chemistry
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Neel H Shah
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 20 Info
• 4 points

Decarbonizing Buildings Studio: Energy s

Building Energy Systems S

Historical co-evolution of building energy systems and fuels. Classifying existing buildings into typologies that are a prevalent combination of building size, age, fuels, equipment, distribution, and zoning controls. Fuels, electricity, furnaces, boilers, heat pumps. Overview of common heat
and hot water distribution systems. Case-study based approach to evaluate retrofit options for each typology. Considerations of location, stagingupgrades, envelope efficiency, retrofit cost structure, paybacks with a view towards decarbonization.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• R 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• 3 points

FLUID BIOMECHANICS

The principles of continuum mechanics as applied to biological fluid flows and transport. Continuum formulations of basic conservation laws, Navier-Stokes equations, mechanics of arterial and venous blood flow, blood rheology and non-Newtonian properties, flow and transport in the microcirculation, oxygen diffusion, capillary filtration.

• Department: Biomedical Engineering
• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: X. Edward Guo
  CULPA: 2 h-index: 70 Info
• 3 points

Plants, Animals and Personhood

PLANTS, ANIMALS & PERSONH

This course is intended to be an opportunity to review the relation between the word “person” and plants and animals, with whom humans abide in a biosphere with no natural boundaries or territories.  While personhood is a recognition of human capability and agency, we have not taken many steps in the direction of recognizing the capability and agency of plants and animals.  Moreover, it is clear that we have diminished many of their functions and even annihilated many of their entire populations.  Nonetheless, there is movement to change this. In our course, three major features of personhood are explored: standing, rights and identity.  Each of these three features are divided into two types:  legal and spiritual standing, juridical and birth rights, and empirical and narrative identities.  Animals and plants are discussed in the context of each of the six types; and are discussed in that order (animals first and plants second) because the movement to change the existing conditions has been more active in relation to animals than to plants.  The growing tendency to blend both plant personhood and animal personhood into environmental or Nature personhood will also be explored.  The overall aim is to help reverse the deleterious conditions generated by the Anthropocene, in which we, and the plants and animals, struggle to live.

• Department: Earth Institute
• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Adela J Gondek
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

The Resilience of Memory: Armenian Genoc

Genocide has indelibly marked the last century. Survivors of these crimes have sought justice and reparations, while also struggling to keep alive the memory of all that was lost. Words and images are employed in this struggle. The literary, performing, and visual arts play key roles in resisting the destruction of memory. Genocide is a crime whose aim is not just the annihilation of biological individuals but of social groups and their cultural heritage. Words (in the form of poetry, memoir, drama, fiction) and images (in the form of photography, film, painting) are used to combat the forgetting, the denial, and the distorting of genocidal crimes.

This course will explore the ways these forms of memory resilience work in the case of the Armenian Genocide. While often under-appreciated, Armenians began a process of reflection upon and resistance against their cultural loss in the decades after 1915. Yet it took another generation for artists and writers to foreground this resistance in their creative output. In parallel to the Jewish response to the Holocaust, the 1960’s and 70’s saw the awakening of a greater Armenian public response to the genocide. Along with memorialization and demands for justice, a heightened critical reflection on the meaning of loss took place. Historical studies of the genocide multiplied adding to our understanding of the nature and causes of the violence. Alongside such scholarship the broader discipline of memory studies has immeasurable added to our understanding of 1915.  

The literature and critical study of the Holocaust and other genocides will help us understand the Armenian resilience of memory. The art and literature we explore will be supplemented by dialogue (in-person or virtually) with writers and artists whose works of resistance continue to be created today.

• Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
• R 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Armen Marsoobian
  Info
• 4 points

ADVANCED CHEMICAL KINETICS

Complex reactive systems. Catalysis. Heterogeneous systems, with an emphasis on coupled chemical kinetics and transport phenomena. Reactions at interfaces (surfaces, aerosols, bubbles). Reactions in solution.

• Department: Chemical Engineering
• MW 5:40 p.m.-6:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Juliana Silva Alves Carneiro
  Info
• 3 points

Economic Policy in the Middle East

Economic Policy in Middle

This advanced elective equips economics majors with the tools to analyze the policy challenges and structural dynamics of Middle Eastern economies. Students will apply macroeconomic models and quantitative methods to understand topics such as oil and gas dependence, fiscal sustainability, inflation, trade, labor markets, demographic transition, institutional development, poverty, and the economics of conflict and reform. They will actively research and present case studies that illustrate the policy challenges in specific country settings. Readings are drawn from leading economics textbooks, research articles, policy reports, and multimedia sources, fostering collaboration, critical thinking, and data-driven discussions on contemporary regional development issues while remaining attentive to the human dimension and to the political economy context in which these policies unfold.

• Department: Economics
• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Tali Regev
  Info
• 3 points

EDUCATION AND INEQUALITY

The goal of the course is to introduce students to foundational texts, theories, and research in the field of sociology of education. In particular, we will focus on the role of schooling in social stratification and social reproduction in the United States.

 

This course is organized by broad topic and theme. We will begin with a discussion of the purpose of schooling before moving into a discussion of some theoretical perspectives on the role of schooling in our society. Next, we will discuss inequality in schooling across multiple socio-demographic categories, including social class, race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion (in addition to inequality at the intersection of multiple social categories). By the end of this course, you should have a strong foundation in research on education’s role in society.

• Department: Sociology
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Marissa Thompson
  Info
• 4 points

SWANA Diasporas: Culture, Politics and I

In this class we will study South-West Asian and North African (SWANA) diasporic populations, social movements and cultural production that have responded to the multi-faceted ramifications of the 21st century war on terror. We will focus on diverse Arab, Iranian, and Afghan diasporas in the United States, where 19th and 20th century legacies of racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and Orientalism combined in new ways to target these groups after the September 11th, 2001 attacks. Drawing on an interdisciplinary array of texts, including ethnography, fiction, feminist and queer theory, social movement theory, and visual and performance art, we will look at how the “war on terror” has shaped the subjectivities and self-representation of SWANA communities. Crucially, we will examine the gender and sexual politics of Islamophobia and racism and study how scholars, activists and artists have sought to intervene in dominant narratives of deviance, threat, and backwardness attributed to Muslim and other SWANA populations. This course takes up the politics of naming, situating the formation of “SWANA” as part of an anti-colonial genealogy that rejects imperial geographies such as “Middle East.” We will ask how new geographies and affiliations come into being in the context of open-ended war, and what new political identities and forms of cultural production then become possible.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• M 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Manijeh Moradian
  Info
• 4 points

TRANSSCALAR ARCHITECTURE: CONSTRUCTION D

• Department: Architecture, Planning and Preservation
• W 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Instructor: Andres Jaque
  Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN YIDDISH LITERATU

GENDER/SEXUALITY YIDDIS L

Early publications in Yiddish, a.k.a. the mame loshn, ‘mother tongue,’ were addressed to “women and men who are like women,” while famous Yiddish writer, Sholem Aleichem, created a myth of “three founding fathers” of modern Yiddish literature, which eliminated the existence of Yiddish women writers. As these examples indicate, gender has played a significant role in Yiddish literary power dynamics. This course will explore representation of gender and sexuality in modern Yiddish literature and film in works created by Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch, Fradl Shtok, Sh. An-sky, Malka Lee, Anna Margolin, Celia Dropkin, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Kadya Molodowsky, Troim Katz Handler, and Irena Klepfisz. You will also acquire skills in academic research and digital presentation of the findings as part of the Mapping Yiddish New York project that is being created at Columbia. No knowledge of Yiddish required.

• Department: Women's, Gender, Sexuality Studies @Barnard
• T 4 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Agnieszka Legutko
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 4 points

Visionary Medicine: Racial Justice, Heal

In Fall 2014, medical students across the U.S. staged die-ins as part of the nationwide #blacklivesmatter protests. The intention was to create a shocking visual spectacle, laying on the line “white coats for black lives.” The images were all over social media: students of all colors, dressed in lab coats, lying prone against eerily clean tile floors, stethoscopes in pockets, hands and around necks. One prone student held a sign reading, “Racism is Real.” These medical students’ collective protests not only created visual spectacle, but produced a dynamic speculative fiction. What would it mean if instead of Michael Brown or Eric Garner or Freddie Gray, these other, more seemingly elite bodies were subjected to police violence? In another viral image, a group of African American male medical students from Harvard posed wearing hoodies beneath their white coats, making clear that the bodies of some future doctors could perhaps be more easily targeted for state-sanctioned brutality. “They tried to bury us,” read a sign held by one of the students, “they didn’t realize we were seeds.” Both medicine and racial justice are acts of speculation; their practices are inextricable from the practice of imagining. By imagining new cures, new discoveries and new futures for human beings in the face of illness, medicine is necessarily always committing acts of speculation. By imagining ourselves into a more racially just future, by simply imagining ourselves any sort of future in the face of racist erasure, social justice activists are similarly involved in creating speculative fictions. This course begins with the premise that racial justice is the bioethical imperative of our time. It will explore the space of science fiction as a methodology of imagining such just futures, embracing the work of Asian- and Afroturism, Cosmos Latinos and Indigenous Imaginaries. We will explore issues including Biocolonialism, Alien/nation, Transnational Labor and Reproduction, the Borderlands and Other Diasporic Spaces. This course will be seminar-style and will make central learner participation and presentation. The seminar will be inter-disciplinary, drawing from science and speculative fictions, cultural studies, gender studies, narrative medicine, disability studies, and bioethics. Ultimately, the course aims to connect the work of science and speculative fiction with on the ground action and organizing.

• Department: Ethnicity and Race, Center for
• M 12:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• Instructor: Sayantani T Dasgupta
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 4 points

COMPUTER HARDWARE DESIGN

Practical aspects of computer hardware design through the implementation, simulation, and prototyping of a PDP-8 processor. High-level and assembly languages, I/O, interrupts, datapath and control design, pipelining, busses, memory architecture. Programmable logic and hardware prototyping with FPGAs. Fundamentals of VHDL for register-transfer level design. Testing and validation of hardware. Hands-on use of industry CAD tools for simulation and synthesis.

• Department: Electrical Engineering
• MWF 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Tanvir Ahmed Khan
  Info
• 3 points

FOURTH-YEAR RUSSIAN II

• Department: Slavic Languages
• MWF 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Tatiana Mikhailova
  Info
• 4 points

Biomechanics of Developmental Biology

BIOMECHANICS DEVELOPMENTA

Biophysical mechanisms of tissue organization

during embryonic development: conservation laws, reaction-diffusion, finite elasticity, and fluid mechanics are reviewed and applied to a broad range of topics in developmental biology, from early development to later organogenesis of the central nervous, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems. Subdivided into modules on patterning (conversion of diffusible cues into cell fates) and morphogenesis (shaping of tissues), the course will include lectures, problem sets, reading of primary literature, and a final project.

• Department: Biomedical Engineering
• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Nandan L Nerurkar
  Info
• 3 points

CINEMA OF SUBVERSION

Russian filmmaker Andre Tarkovsky said that “the artist has no right to an idea in which he is not socially committed.” Argentine filmmaker Fernando Solanas and Spanish-born Octavio Getino postulated an alternative cinema that would spur spectators to political action. In this course we will ask the question: How do authoritarian governments influence the arts, and how do artists respond? We will study how socially committed filmmakers have subverted and redefined cinema aesthetics to challenge authoritarianism and repression. In addition, we will look at how some filmmakers respond to institutional oppression, such as poverty and corruption, even within so-called “free” societies. The focus is on contemporary filmmakers but will also include earlier classics of world cinema to provide historical perspective. The course will discuss these topics, among others: What is authoritarianism, what is totalitarianism, and what are the tools of repression within authoritarian/totalitarian societies? What is Third Cinema, and how does it represent and challenge authoritarianism? How does film navigate the opposition of censorship, propaganda and truth? How do filmmakers respond to repressive laws concerning gender and sexual orientation? How do they deal with violence and trauma? How are memories of repressive regimes reflected in the psyche of modern cinema? And finally, what do we learn about authority, artistic vision, and about ourselves when we watch these films?

• Department: Ethnicity and Race, Center for
• R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Eric Gamalinda
  CULPA: 9 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

Writers on History: Robert Musil

Writers on Hist: Robert M

This seminar is devoted to examining the work of writers who address the nature and course of history in their imaginative and non-fiction work. This semester we will be exploring the work of Robert Musil, in particular his great unfinished novel,
The Man Without Qualities
, with its imaginative account of Vienna in the lead up to World War I and an exploration into the fundamental historical dynamics of Western modernity.

• Department: History
• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Mark Lilla
  CULPA: 57 Wikipedia Info
• 4 points

Free Trade and Protection in the Global

Free Trade & Protection

This course introduces you to the rich history of international political economy in the nineteenth century, a period often described as the ‘first age of globalization’. You will gain a foundational grounding in classic theories of free trade, protectionism, and autarchy, from well-known thinkers like Adam Smith and Friedrich List. You will also, however, have a change to engage with a range of heterodox and critical voices in Marxist and anti-colonial economics, and explore some of the real-world, on-the-ground situations where economic theories were inspired, implemented and contested.

• Department: History
• M 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: James Stafford
  Info
• 4 points

FAUST (ENG)

FAUST: Marlowe Goethe Mann

• Department: Germanic Languages
• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Dorothea von Muecke
  Info
• 3 points

Literati Culture in Pre-Modern China

Literati Cult. Pre-Mod. C

Premodern Chinese literati have long been regarded as active historical agents who shaped “This Culture of Ours”—a metonym for civilization in the premodern Sinitic context—while they also fed from, partook in, and influenced popular and foreign cultures. Besides “literary writings” like poetry and prose, literati also engaged in calligraphy, painting, and antiquarianism under the umbrella term of “literary or cultural arts.” In turn, the creation and appreciation of artwork were intrinsic to the aesthetic life of literati community and further established their self-identity. At the same time, social exclusivity, (self-)doubt and identity crises, along with the looming threat of cultural decline, have continually haunted this literati community throughout the ages.

Covering the long trajectory of imperial China, this course reveals the birth and development of literati culture. In particular, we take an interdisciplinary approach, introducing intellectual and poetic discourses, socio-historical contexts, literary criticism, visual and material culture, to envision a “common ground” for their civil world. Textual, visual sources plus material objects are meant to have conversations with each other in this course. Important issues include historical transformations of the elite class, cultural geography in different eras, materiality and visuality of elite calligraphy and painting, literati self-expression through aesthetic practice, the roles of the court and literati in producing and preserving art, as well as other relevant issues such as gender studies, vernacular literature, and commodity society.

This course is cross-listed in AMEC and CPLT. For undergraduates, no background in Chinese language is required in this course, and all reading materials—either translation of primary sources or secondary scholarship—are accessible in English.

• Department: Asian and Middle East @Barnard
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Lili Xia
  Info
• 4 points

Parenting Like A Primate: The Evolution

Humans, like other animals, have evolved strategies of parental care, which include traits and trade-offs that enhance development and survival of offspring at the expense of parents. This course addresses questions such as: Why do we care for offspring? What physiological and genetic mechanisms underlie parental behavior? What drives variation in parental care strategies? We will analyze the diverse array of social and  mating systems along with parental care strategies, focusing on primates including humans.

• Department: Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Alba Lucia Morales Jimenez
  Info
• 3 points

Investment Strategies

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to modern investment analysis, integrating two distinct yet complementary approaches: fundamental value investing and quantitative investment strategies. The first half focuses on value investing, emphasizing the economic analysis and valuation of a firm's business operations to estimate its fundamental value. Students will learn to assess competitive advantages and barriers to entry, apply valuation frameworks beyond standard DCF models, and manage risk in concentrated portfolios. The methodology is grounded in identifying a 'margin of safety' by investing when a company's market value is significantly below its intrinsic worth.

The second half shifts to quantitative investment strategies, exploring the tools and techniques used in an environment of continuous financial innovation. Topics include hedging and risk management, single- and multi-period portfolio optimization, the use of factor models and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for investment decisions, and the construction of systematic and volatility-based strategies. A hands-on approach is used to highlight the applications and limitations of these quantitative methods. Upon completion, students will have a rich and coherent view of investing that combines a sound understanding of business economics with robust quantitative and risk management techniques.

We recommend that students take Corporate Finance (BUSI 4280 and ECON 4280) beforehand and Capital Markets (BUSI 3705) or Financial Economics (ECON 3025) concurrently.

• Department: Mendelson Center
• W 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• 3 points

Green Chemical Engineering & Innovation

Approaches used in chemistry and chemical engineering to design green, sustainable products and processes; focus of using the tenets of green chemistry as a means for chemical innovation. Technical and design practice and measuring the impacts of green and conventional approaches emphasized. Themes of business, regulatory, ethical, and social considerations relevant to chemical engineering practice.

• Department: Chemical Engineering
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Christopher S Chen
  Info
• 3 points

ITAL WOMEN WRITERS 1945-1990

• Department: Italian
• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Elizabeth Leake
  Info
• 3 points

Crime, Sex, Race and the Politics of Pur

The Politics of Purity

The politics of what and who counts as worthy, good, or pure mediates possibilities for political and legal life. This course takes as its central question: how do certain ideas around purity and innocence come to appear natural? By considering a wide range of topics including carceral studies, immigration, race-making, settler colonialism, gender and sexuality and cultural studies, we will uncover the ways that cultural objects circulate and do political work. How are notions of race, crime, and purity produced, policed, and lived? And finally, how might we live otherwise—against innocence?

• Department: American Studies @Barnard
• T 10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Daria Reaven
  Info
• 4 points

LABOR ECONOMICS

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213. This course examines labor markets through the lens of economics. In broad terms, labor economics is the study of the exchange of labor services for wages—a category that takes in a wide range of topics. Our objective in this course is to lay the foundations for explaining labor market phenomena within an economic framework and subsequently apply this knowledge-structure to a select set of questions. Throughout this process we will discuss empirical research, which will highlight the power (as well as the limitations) of employing economic models to real-world problems. By the end of this course we will have the tools/intuition to adequately formulate and critically contest arguments concerning labor markets.

• Department: Economics
• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Tatiana Mocanu
  Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED PRINTMAKING

Prerequisites: VIAR R2420, or VIAR R2430. (Formerly R3415) Designed for students who have already taken one semester of a printmaking course and are interested in continuing on an upper level. Students are encouraged to work in all areas, separate or combined, using their own vocabulary and imagery to create a body of work by the end of the semester. If the class is full, please visit http://arts.columbia.edu/undergraduate-visual-arts-program.

• Department: Visual Arts
• T 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
• 3 points

Introduction to Kinematics of Machines a

Kinematics of Machines Ro

Introduction to kinematic analysis and design of machines and robots.  Analytical and graphical synthesis of four-bar linkages. Planar displacements of rigid bodies. Spherical displacements of rigid bodies. Spatial displacements of rigid bodies. Rigid body velocities and wrenches. Concepts of kinematics of open-chain linkages.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• T 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Qiao Lin
  h-index: 41 Info
• 3 points

Corporate Finance, Accounting & Investme

CorpFin, Account & Invest

Interpret financial statements, build cash flow models, value projects, value companies, and make Corporate Finance decisions. Additional topics include: cost of capital, dividend policy, debt policy, impact of taxes, Shareholder/Debtholder agency costs, dual-class shares, using option pricing theory to analyze management behavior, investment banking activities, including equity underwriting, syndicated lending, venture capital, private equity investing and private equity secondaries. Application of theory in real-world situations: analyzing financial activities of companies such as General Electric, Google, Snapchat, Spotify, and Tesla.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• M 5:40 p.m.-8:10 p.m.
• Instructor: Rodney Sunada-Wong
  Info
• 3 points

SIMULATION

Generation of random numbers from given distributions; variance reduction; statistical output analysis; introduction to simulation languages; application to financial, telecommunications, computer, and production systems. Graduate students must register for 3 points. Undergraduate students must register for 4 points. Note: Students who have taken IEOR E4703 Monte Carlo simulation may not register for this course for credit. Recitation section required.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Eric Stratman
  Info
• 3 points

PRODUCTION SCHEDULING

Required for undergraduate students majoring in IE and OR. Job shop scheduling: parallel machines, machines in series; arbitrary job shops. Algorithms, complexity, and worst-case analysis. Effects of randomness: machine breakdowns, random processing time. Term project.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• TR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: Clifford Stein
  CULPA: 31 Wikipedia h-index: 53 Info
• 3 points

PRIN OF ULTRASOUND IN MEDICINE

ULTRASOUND IN DIAGNOSTC IMAGNG

Fourier analysis. Physics of diagnostic ultrasound and principles of ultrasound imaging instrumentation. Propagation of plane waves in lossless medium; ultrasound propagation through biological tissues; single-element and array transducer design; pulse-echo and Doppler ultrasound instrumentation, performance evaluation of ultrasound imaging systems using tissue-mimicking phantoms, ultrasound tissue characterization; ultrasound nonlinearity and bubble activity; harmonic imaging; acoustic output of ultrasound systems; biological effects of ultrasound.

• Department: Biomedical Engineering
• W 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Elisa Konofagou
  Wikipedia h-index: 71 Info
• 3 points

Political Economy of Latin America

Pol Econ Latin America

Comparative political economy is the study of the relations between economy and politics, and how these relations vary geographically and temporally. In this seminar we will examine the way in which the political context | domestic and international | a?ects the formulation of economic policies and their outcomes, and also the means by which economic conditions in uence the stability and quality of democratic regimes, with a particular focus on Latin American countries. Topics include representation, accountability, and democracy; competing views on inequality and the role of the state; the constraints of globalized financial markets; and the
dynamics of populism and clientelism. We will also consider pressing contemporary debates in the region, such as rising violence, democratic backsliding, far-right mobilization, and the challenges of development in the context of climate change. The course will be of interest to students curious about politics, economics, and international a?airs, as well as those seeking a deeper understanding of democracy and development, and the challenges facing societies in a globalized world.

• Department: Political Science
• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Daniela Campello
  Info
• 3 points

GAME THEORY

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Introduction to the systematic treatment of game theory and its applications in economic analysis.

• Department: Economics
• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Murat Yilmaz
  Info
• 3 points

TRANSPORTATION ANALYTICS & LOGISTICS

Transportation, primarily focused on the movement of people, and logistics, primarily focused
on the movement of goods, are two of the most fundamental challenges to modern society. To
address many problems in these areas, a wide array of mathematical models and analytics tools
have been developed. This class will introduce many of the foundational tools used in
transportation and logistics problems, relying on ideas from linear optimization, integer
optimization, stochastic processes, statistics, and simulation. We will address problems such as
optimizing the routes of cars and delivery trucks, positioning emergency vehicles, and
controlling traffic behavior. Moreover, we will discuss modern issues such as bicycle sharing,
on-demand car and delivery services, and humanitarian logistics. Concepts will be reinforced
with technical content as well as real-world data and examples.

• Department: Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Adam N Elmachtoub
  CULPA: 1 h-index: 13 Info
• 3 points

Internet Technology, Economics, and Poli

INTERNET TECHN ECON AND P

Technology, economic and policy aspects of the Internet. Summarizes how the Internet works technically, including protocols, standards, radio spectrum, global infrastructure and interconnection. Micro-economics with a focus on media and telecommunication economic concerns, including competition and monopolies, platforms, and behavioral economics. US constitution, freedom of speech, administrative procedures act and regulatory process, universal service, role of FCC. Not a substitute for CSEE4119. Suitable for non-majors.

• Department: Computer Science
• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Henning G Schulzrinne
  CULPA: 12 Info
• 3 points

WALTER BENJAMIN (ENG)

In 1936, the exiled German-Jewish thinker Walter Benjamin wrote, “A generation that had gone to school on a horse-drawn streetcar now stood under the open sky in a countryside in which nothing remained unchanged but the clouds, and beneath these clouds, in a field of force of destructive torrents and explosions, was the tiny, fragile human body.”

Few thinkers or writers have as poignantly articulated how human experience is formed by crisis. Early in his career, he conceptualized a sudden departure from 19th-century modes of experience—a departure brought on by World War I and other developments in early 20th century European history. Between philosophy and history, Benjamin charted a course toward a new mode of experience in the midst of a growing social and political crisis.

Benjamin’s methodology was critique, a specifically historical way of analyzing transformative events and experiences. We will read the texts in which Benjamin tests out formative, critical experiences such as a child’s perception of color, fate and character, the violence of the law, mourning, memory, new media such as film and radio, and his writings on authors such as Baudelaire, Proust, Brecht, and Kafka.

Our reading will proceed roughly chronologically, as Benjamin’s attention shifted from theorizing experience to reflecting on Marxism, Nazism, and other political and social trends. Given Benjamin’s important contributions to a vast number of fields, we will be reading texts in political theory, literary theory, art history, film, and media studies.

• Department: Germanic Languages
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Annie Pfeifer
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

MODAL LOGIC

• Department: Philosophy
• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Achille Varzi
  CULPA: 30 Wikipedia h-index: 40 Info
• 3 points

PRIN OF MAG RESONANCE IMAGING

Fundamental principles of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), including the underlying spin physics and mathematics of image formation with an emphasis on the application of MRI to neuroimaging, both anatomical and functional. The examines both theory and experimental design techniques.

• Department: Biomedical Engineering
• R 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• Instructor: John T Vaughan
  Info
• 3 points

Space Resource and Planetary Protection

Space Resource & Planet P

Planetary defense against asteroids and comets; astronaut rescue and emergency response; satellite constellations and orbital congestion; space debris and long-term sustainability; space law, treaties, and Artemis Accords; planetary protection, cislunar competition, and future international strategies. Weekly case studies on national doctrines, commercial actors, and modern enforcement challenges. Systems Tool Kit Astrogator software used to model satellite constellations, cislunar surveillance orbits, lunar frozen orbits, and defense scenarios connecting spaceflight mechanics with law and policy.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• M 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• 3 points

Rapid Prototyping for Aerospace Products

Rapid Prototyp for Aero P

Graduate-level design course focused on the rapid prototyping, integration, testing, and validation of aerospace systems. Students work in teams to design and build engineering models of aerospace systems (e.g., drones, CubeSat subsystems, ground systems, balloon payloads, or related aerospace hardware). Projects progress from concept to pre-production functional prototype through iterative sprint cycles emphasizing scoping, design, build, and test. Deliverables include mission-driven specifications and design reviews, working prototypes, and supporting documentation. Involves brainstorming concept generation, literature review, production of layout drawing(s) in Computer Aided Design (CAD) software tools, incorporation of multiple constraints, and adherence to appropriate engineering codes and standards. Business and product framing activities will support the technical work with market and mission relevance.

• Department: Mechanical Engineering
• W 4:10 p.m.-6:40 p.m.
• 3 points

TOPICS-NEUROBIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR

Prerequisites: the instructors permission. Examines current topics in neurobiology and behavior.

• Department: Psychology
• M 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Carl Hart
  CULPA: 43 Wikipedia h-index: 54 Info
• 3 points

Climate Technology

Scientific and economic analysis of real-world technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation.  Partner with students from the business school to assess and assigned technology based on technical viability, commercial opportunity, and impact on mitigating or adapting to climate change. Assigned technologies provided by the investment community to teams of four, with expectations for independent research on the technologies, with deliverables of written and oral presentations.

• Department: Chemical Engineering
• W 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
• Instructor: Alan West
  CULPA: 3 h-index: 48 Info
• 3 points

Ethology and the Evolution of Behavior

Ethology & Evol. of Behav

What are the sources and mechanisms of diversity of behavior among individuals and between species and how does behavior evolve at genetic, molecular, and neuronal levels? Readings will span an arc from an introduction to ethology and animal behavior, through studies of animal behavior in nature and in the laboratory, followed by how animals interact with their physicochemical and social environments, and ending with a perspective on the diversity and evolution of animal behavior.

• Department: Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Andres Bendesky
  h-index: 14 Info
• 3 points

Deep Learning in Biomedical Imaging

Deep Learning in BME / Im

Introduction to methods in deep learning, with focus on applications to quantitative problems in biomedical imaging and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medicine. Network models: Deep feedforward networks, convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks. Deep autoencoders for denoising. Segmentation and classification of biological tissues and biomarkers of disease. Theory and methods lectures will be accompanied with examples from biomedical image including analysis of neurological images of the brain (MRI), CT images of the lung for cancer and COPD, cardiac ultrasound. Programming assignments will use tensorflow / Pytorch and Jupyter Notebook. Examinations and a final project will also be required.

• Department: Biomedical Engineering
• W 1:10 p.m.-3:40 p.m.
• Instructor: Jia Guo
  Info
• 3 points

PRIN-INNOVATN/ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Team project centered course focused on principles of planning, creating, and growing a technology venture. Topics include: identifying and analyzing opportunities created by technology paradigm shifts, designing innovative products, protecting intellectual property, engineering innovative business models.

• Department: Computer Science
• MW 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• Instructor: William Reinisch
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT RESEARCH

All supervisors will be Columbia faculty who hold a PhD. Students are responsible for identifying their own supervisor and it is at the discretion of faculty whether they accept to supervise independent research. Projects must be focused on Hellenic Studies and can be approached from any disciplinary background. Students are expected to develop their own reading list in consultation with their supervisor. In addition to completing assigned readings, the student must also write a Hellenic studies paper of 20 pages. Projects other than a research paper will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Hellenic Studies is an interdisciplinary field that revolves around two main axes: space and time. Its teaching and research are focused on the study of post-classical Greece in various fields: Language, Literature, History, Politics, Anthropology, Art, Archaeology, and in various periods: Late Antique, Medieval, Byzantine, Modern Greek etc. Therefore, the range of topics that are acceptable as a Hellenic Studies seminar paper is broad. It is upon each supervisor to discuss the specific topic with the student. The work submitted for this independent study course must be different from the work a student submits in other courses, including the Hellenic Studies Senior Research Seminar.

• Department: Classics
• Instructor: Nikolas Kakkoufa
  Info
• Instructor: Paraskevi Martzavou
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points